Thank you for the timely reminder, I went out and gave mine all a good watering yesterday. They were definitely ready for it. With respect to the garage temperature question, that will depend on a number of factors. Is the garage attached, or detached, does it have an attic, or insulation of any kind, etc. Mine is attached with 3 uninsulated walls, but an insulated appartment overhead. Outside temperatures have gone as low as -29 C / -20 F so far this season and the lowest tempeature indoors has been -6 C / 21 F. If you have a detached uninsulated garage, then the ambient temperature inside will likely reach nearly the same temperature as the outside during extended cold spells. -20 F is almost certainly cold enough to kill a potted knock out rose. If you're garage is insulated the temperature swings should be less. You might try building an insulated box large enough to put you potted rose in, keep it in the garage and put a small 40 watt incadecent light bulb inside that you could turn on when the temperature is forecast to go below about -5 F. Cheers, Rick

Where you live you should not have any problems growing a roses on your balcony. You may also want to look at the smaller shrub roses along with the minis especially if you would like roses with fragrance. Just remember, some minis will get quite large (over 4'). So you should look a roses that stay about 2' to 3' tall. A good place to start is on HelpMeFind roses. Nor'east has stopped selling retail but there are other nice nurseries that specialize in minis. Two that come to mind are Two Sisters and Almost Heaven. I have 3 from Almost Heaven and all are doing great. I have not ordered from Two Sisters, but they have a great reputation. If you want to look at small shrub roses, I would recommend Ashdown Roses and Roses Unlimited. I have ordered from both and have been very pleased. There are many others of course, but all of these are on the east coast so shipping cost will not be as high. Liz

Sorry to be reviving an old thread, but I had some additional questions. First time I've posted on here; I've been primarily on the kitchen and bath forums. We live in Eastern WA state - zone 6a. We have had roses in containers that we overwinter with varying levels of success for the last 5 or 6 years. Our property is in unfenced deer country, but I really wanted some roses and they actually won't come on the front deck (amazingly). This is the first year that we haven't placed our roses in our unheated, uninsulated detached garage. We have them up off the deck ,in a sort of protected corner, with insulation around the pots themselves. I have watered them about once a month. My question is this: these roses, and I have only 2, never actually seem to go dormant. Even before when I would put them in the garage for the winter, they seemed to retain their leaves. This year I was sure I'd see the leaves get brown and fall off, since they were outside, but that hasn't really happened. It appears to me that I haven't killed them quite yet and I'd like to keep it that way. Here's what they look like right now: When we first started doing this, we successfully kept them for at least 3 or 4 seasons. Then, one year both bushes died. We replaced them, not with identical varieties, and the next year (maybe 2 years ago?) one died and one didn't. I've never pruned in the fall, having read it's better not to. Sorry this post is so long, and again I'm not sure I have a problem (yet), but was just wondering if anyone had any insight. The information in the posts above has been very helpful. Thanks.

I agree with Jackie, it's too early to move them. Once it warms up and night time temps are consistently above freezing you can dig them out safely. Dig as big a root ball as you can handle and take off ALL of the garden soil from the roots. You can rinse the root ball under a hose to get it off. Try to save as many of the small white feeder roots as you can. Find the biggest pots you can (I always suggest plastic or resin ones, they're much lighter if you have to move them, and you will!) and put extra drainage holes in them. Fill them with good quality potting soil. You can not use top soil in pots. It's too heavy and the pots won't drain properly. Roses in pots usually require a little extra watering because they dry out quicker. They also need a little extra fertilizing because the nutrients wash out. In zone 7 it would be very iffy to try to keep them outside all winter unprotected. If you have a garage I would say store them in there. Just remember to water them at least once a month until you can get them back outside in the spring. If you have to winter them outside I would suggest putting them together against a sunny wall of your house and wrapping them with burlap and packing them with leaves. I do this for my rose pots here in zone 6 and it has worked very well.